


there should be just one safe place in the world

by ilfirin_estel



Category: Lost
Genre: AU, Angst, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Polyamory, Post The End, eventual OT3, one safe place!verse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-30
Updated: 2011-05-20
Packaged: 2017-12-13 11:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/823834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilfirin_estel/pseuds/ilfirin_estel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“The war is over. We have won at last.” (AU where Jacob didn’t have to die to pass on his powers, and the Candidate is Jacob's proxy in a battle against the Man in Black.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	there should be just one safe place in the world

**Author's Note:**

> So this was written for an OT3 prompt [here](http://pann-cake.livejournal.com/125310.html?thread=781182): Richard/Jacob/Jack, _the gentleness that comes, not from the absence of violence, but despite the abundance of it._ It's basically the WIP fic 'verse where Jacob and Jack figure out how to get Richard on board with polyamory.

Jack is broken when Jacob finds him. He squints up at Jacob, breath shallow, skin ashen underneath flecks of dried blood, one hand still clamped over the wound in his side. “Is it over?” he asks, shivering a little when Jacob cards through his hair and surveys the damage with calm, blue eyes.

Jack is cold, so cold, but Jacob’s body is radiating warmth like a promise. Jack clings to consciousness, curling his free hand in Jacob’s shirt in a silent plea: _stay._ Jacob’s gaze softens as he answers, “Yes, it’s over. You did well.”

Jack smiles—a tiny, fragile little thing—as Jacob’s fingers brush across his forehead and down his cheek.

“Jack, do you want me to let you go?” Jacob asks, the question simple, the meaning clear— _do you want to die?_ “It can end here. You have done enough.”

Jack thinks about it, thinks about saying yes, thinks about drifting away, letting Death slip over in a wave of peaceful darkness. No pain. Sleep. It would be easy. He knows the honest conviction in Jacob as if it was his own, sees the light in Jacob’s eyes, the light they share together. Jacob would let him go, even though it would leave an aching shadow deep within. Jack knows this, closes his eyes, thinks _I am tired, so tired…_ and yet, since when has he ever taken the easy road?

He tightens his grip on Jacob, the word _no_ a twist of lips and rush of breath that meets Jacob’s sigh of relief.

The sanctuary of the statue lies too far from reach, so Jacob takes him to the river. Loving and gentle, Jacob washes away the dirt and sand and salt and blood, stitches up the torn skin and breathes new life into Jack’s exhausted form, makes him whole again.

Jacob lifts Jack up and carries him home.

 

Richard is waiting for them when they arrive at last.

“Is it safe?” he asks, coming forward out of the darkness—there is no light in the statue, nothing to light the cold ashes and blackened shards of wood in the fire-pit. Jacob sees goose-bumps break out along Richard’s arms as they lower Jack’s sleeping form to the ground.

“Yes,” Jacob replies, the word hushed, though inward joy flares bright. “The war is over. We have won at last.”

Richard smiles, beautiful with relief before concern rushes in. He kneels beside Jack, dark eyes darting over stitches and blood that stubbornly would not fade. “He’s all right?”

Jacob nods, walking about the little room. All stones and belongings are still overturned and scattered from the Monster’s wrath, but Jacob picks through the pieces until he finds an unfinished tapestry that will work as a blanket.

Jack’s body is healing slowly—slower than it would have if Jacob had never offered up his powers for the war. Jack had been Jacob’s Candidate and the Island’s Champion, but they both were forced to make sacrifices for their victory. Jacob is just grateful that the Light restored to him even a fraction of what he had given to the cause. It is enough. He tells Richard, “Jack will live long and well.” And it is the truth.

Richard’s eyes meet Jacob’s in the dark. Jacob is not certain if he reads something cold in Richard’s expression. “He will live with us?”

“If he wishes to,” Jacob keeps his voice soft, neutral. “If you wish it also. You are both free to leave this place now. Your work is done.”

Richard folds his legs under him, looks away, and does not answer. Jacob sits on the other side of Jack and tries to ignore the ache in his chest. He wishes… but his desires are of no consequence.

Still, the words are there, heavy on his tongue: _I don’t want either of you to leave._ He swallows them down, but others just as painful replace them. “I thought you had left on the plane.”

“Why would I go, Jacob? Where would I go?” Jacob listens for bitterness and resignation, but only hears frankness. _This is what it is._

“I don’t want you to feel obligated to stay.” Jacob watches Richard—Richard, who will not look at him, but whose shoulders go rigid.

“I am not needed, then?”

“Needed, no.” Jacob pauses, wavering over the words that clamor to be voiced. “You are not needed, but you are wanted,” he eventually says, careful. “You will always have a home here. But you will also always have the choice to make your home elsewhere.”

Richard’s laugh startles Jacob, and yes, _then_ Richard turns back to him. “ _You_ are here. But Jacob, I—” Richard stops, worrying his lower lip with his teeth, and Jacob recognizes the pause stretching between them, knows that the distance of it comes from the last full conversation they’d had. Richard confirms it as he looks down at the man lying between them.

The words are there, echoing in the shared silence: _I never could be who you needed. I always knew you would find someone—someone else._

The Candidate. The idea had always stood between them. Countless arguments where Richard asked, _why am I not the Candidate, why can I not be who you need?_ And time and time again, Jacob told him the truth, _I don’t know, I don’t have the answer, the Light will tell me when, the Light will tell me who it is…_

And then Jack Shephard came into their lives. And he became the Candidate, sharing the cup and forming the covenant with Jacob. The woman that Jacob called Mother once said there was light inside all men; Jack’s light is now bound forever to Jacob’s. The Island brought them together, their lives, their fates, their _souls_ tied up into one.

Jacob still doesn’t know how to make Richard understand. The promises he made to Richard still hold weight; Richard was never lacking anything in Jacob’s eyes. Jack is not better, Jack is not _more_ … Jack is just different.

“I love you, Richard,” Jacob says, hoping that one day it will be enough.  



End file.
